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Comment by diego_moita | Hacker News Reader

It is ironic how Pebble looks a lot more like an Apple product than the AppleWatch itself.

Apple made a product that aligns with its long term strategies but delivers very poorly the most fundamental and essential functionality. The AppleWatch has short battery life, its screen is not always on, is not waterproof, its interface is not intuitive... And what we get in return? You can send your heartbeat through bluetooth and has lots of cool straps.

It reminds me the feature-bloated products that Microsoft used to make. They'd do everything but fail at the essential.

One thing Jobs was famous for was trimming the superfluous in order to get the essential well done. It is clear that the AppleWatch could get a lot from Jobs.

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I completely agree. I'd take this new Pebble Time or the Moto 360 as an "Apple Watch" over what Apple actually produced.

To be honest the Apple Watch looks about as clunky as Samsung's attempts (Galaxy Gear) but Samsung shipped a year and a half before Apple, and Motorola about a six months.

I admire Apple's advertising machine, they can sell anything. I think the Apple Watch proves that point. A $350 ($100 more than anyone else) fugly watch that was behind its competitors even before it shipped.

Does anyone here actually own one? What do you think?

You think the Pebble Time has a better design than the Apple Watch? The Pebble looks pretty similar but with a bigger bezel. The Apple Watch doesn't go on sale until April 24.

> It is ironic how Pebble looks a lot more like an Apple product than the AppleWatch itself.

Im not sure how you could look at the pictures of the Pebble and make this conclusion. The on-screen UI is hideous. It looks like a feature-phone from the early 2000s. Pebble Steel has nice industrial design, but again totally ugly screen and UI.

"Delivers very poorly"

It doesn't even get released for another 3 weeks!

Frankly, I think the Apple Watch (as it currently is) and the Pebble are both less useful than not needing to remember to wear or recharge a watch.

Did you conclude the battery life and the interface was non intuitive after trying it?

daily charging < weekly charging

How do you know what Steve Jobs would have done? Wouldn't Cook, Ive, and others who have worked next to him for over a decade be better equipped to make product judgements than any of us?

"It is ironic how Pebble looks a lot more like an Apple product than the AppleWatch itself."

No.

Pish-posh. How can you complain about the screen not always being on and it not being good for swimming and then refer to Jobs trimming the superflous?

Don't you remember when the iPhone came out? No keyboard! Harumph! It only has a battery life of one day! Harumph! No flash! Harumph!

I mean, do you remember how much of the web was in flash in 2007?

Also, do you remember what was essential about a cellular phone in 2007? It was essential that you make calls and send sms.

That is not what is essential about a cellular phone today. Telling time may not be what is essential about a watch tomorrow.

Essential apparently is gold tinting to gold plating. It should have been evident from the iPhone 5 series that Apple went in full force for the pretentious crowd by issue a gold colored iPhone. The Apple Watch emphasizes style and style choices more than any other feature.

So while I will happily keep my iPhone, iMac, and my parents their iPads, I see no reason to buy a product built for style more so than functionality and engineering excellence. Anyone can make a big watch, probably only Apple can sell it at a price that should make most people flinch

Kind of like you stopped buying Apple products when the iMac came out in different colors in 1999, instead of just beige? And the iPod Mini in 2004? And the iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle, and black MacBook in 2006?

Basically one product line or another continuously for the last 16 years?

A device can be useful and come in multiple colors. The aluminum one doesn't magically stop working as well.

The outrage when they started offering a white iPhone too. Colors are bad, everyone knows that. Heck, my TV is black and white, and even that's one color too many.

One thing to realize is that Apple is gearing more of their products to the Chinese market with the golds, reds and other cosmetic choices.

The other thing to note is that Ive is a silversmith's son so he may be drawn to metallurgical interests and choices from a deep psychological place.

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